The reasons for the Foundation
Governance and the Foundation’s relationship with the company
The staff and external collaboration
Management of the Foundation
G.P.: When the Foundation was created, the company creates a complex entity that is part of the company, yet apart in many ways. Dalmine as a company and the Dalmine Foundation differ in their juridical structure and mission. Could you describe the initial relations between the two subjects and how they changed through the years?
S.M.: I think that here at Dalmine, we have been lucky to encounter few problems. The project started with two priorities: to find a person to whom we could entrust the foundation, and to find the right juridical structure – association, foundation… there were two or three possibilities. I’d say that the first step was the fortuitous meeting with Carolina Lussana who already worked for the company’s archives…
C.L.: Consulting the archives, as a client…
S.M.: She convinced Mr. Rocca that the records needed urgent attention. Mr. Rocca listened to her and immediately took a strong personal interest in the Foundation. As director of this project, I also felt that Carolina was the right person and so we immediately got her involved. It seems to have been a good choice because we have been able to accomplish a great deal together. From a corporate point of view, we built this Foundation, which is managed by a board of directors of three people.
G.P.: So the company is the only charter member of the Foundation.
S.M.: Yes, the only member, so we can discuss the two-year projects and programs with Carolina since it isn’t possible to put too many things together in one calendar year. The strategic direction started from the retrieval of Dalmine’s history and the archives, but also encompasses wider issues of business culture. At this stage Carolina Lussana and the Foundation also began to take care of other records of the group around the world, so the Foundation became the head of this archival activity. The Foundation isn’t the only operations center of the group from a cultural point of view: we have other activities such as the Proa Foundation in Buenos Aires, which deals with contemporary art; we also are the charter members of the Galleria di Arte Moderna Contemporanea in Bergamo. But the Foundation is the place of the real business culture.
C.L.: Business culture in the sense of historical memory…
S.M.: Not only as memory but perhaps even something more: that is, culture relating to the nature of the company. So,, these projects work because people are able to talk and reach agreement based on the same aims , Carolina Lussana concentrates on the historical heritage so that as it is gradually reordered and made available also on the Net, we can start to look at what there is outside. However, we certainly don’t intend to spend the next 100 years on the same records.
C.L.: Yes, also because the public who use the Dalmine archives are not only business historians, so we want to deal with this patrimony, the archives, with approaches that are not always strictly historical. We would like to develop an analysis that brings us a perspective outside the history of Dalmine. Photography, architecture, the relationship between visual arts and industrial culture make it possible for us to bridge with other institutions.
G.P.: So, attention is mainly focused on creating a cultural encounter between the company and the community?
C.L.: Exactly.
S.M.: At present our two most important cultural activities are the Foundation and Gamec, a modern and contemporary art gallery managed by an association formed by the Bergamo city council and Dalmine. Up to now we assumed that the Foundation looks towards the past, while we look towards the future through contemporary art, but this is not absolute. I’d say that the Foundation is becoming a real cultural intermediary even if our primary function is to maintain the archives. In other words, we are glad to broaden our role without losing Dalmine’s original identity which, in the future, could expand in a way that we can’t predict. The relevant fact is that Tenaris has grown by taking over other non-Italian companies whose history is different from that of the first three. So, what is the role of the Foundation in this broader scenario? We don’t really know yet, but I ‘m sure that this will be an issue to think about with Mr. Rocca.
G.P.: So the main thing is the concentration of a new historical patrimony that comes with the multinational expansion of the company.
S.M.: Yes, even if they are similar companies and in most cases, they have the same technologies so there are always points of contact. It is not a situation where you buy a shoe factory in Scotland one day, and something else the day after; there is a defined path that can be easily followed by consulting the records. But we aren’t sure where this theme will lead us…
C.L.: At this point in time, corporate relations between Argentina and Italy are well-defined, thanks to some archival activities we carried out on the records in Buenos Aires as well as an exhibition that we organized in 2004 about the 50th anniversary of the company in Argentina.
G.P.: It’s easy to understand, also because the main effort of a multinational company must be to foster integration. Culture is a powerful element to unify the system.
C.L.: What’s more in these eight and a half years of work, it is important to have developed specific skills that are sometimes difficult to find in other countries, and are transferable when starting up similar projects in other realities. Business archives, for example, in Argentina are less developed than in Europe.
S.M.: There are only a few companies or groups that can boast such continuity.
G.P.: In fact, one of the main problems is discontinuity…
S.M.: I am also convinced that these projects are successful because of the people who create them. Carolina’s work determines the presence of leadership.
G.P.: Let’s go back to the theme of governance. The foundation is a non-profit organization with a single supporting member and you are its councilor.
S.M.: There are three of us…
G.P.: …three councilors appointed by the company. Have you ever felt the need to open the Foundation to the territory as Giovannino Agnelli did with Piaggio?
S.M.: We have never spoken about it in the past and I don’t think it would be necessary to do it at present.
C.L.: If we look at the facts, it has already happened.
S.M.: I think it is more useful to work on projects such as this face-to-face meeting rather than having this or that professor on the board.. Especially since we are in a stage of consolidation of our eight-year work and considering what to do next, it might be possible that our questions no longer pertain to the original territory. Of course, the answer will depend on Tenaris’ choices: if the Foundation were an organization only here [in Dalmine, province of Bergamo] to stay, I could try to open it up to new people who could contribute ideas. But this would imply that I already know which direction to take.. Maybe we are wrong, but we still need to feel free. In contrast, from the operational point of view, it’s important to have a dialogue with others with whom we can evaluate our decisions. This means to develop relations with the territory. Interacting with other protagonists of business culture helps us to understand if we are headed in the right direction. If I had to say let’s bring somebody new, I wouldn’t know who to chose. Dalmine’s reality changes so rapidly—consequently our work must reflect that fact. Of course, we do not want to be isolated. It is important for me to interact with the territory, first, through the foundation’s activity and second, by participating in activities organized by the territory. I mean, territory in the wider sense, as in ‘the chain of business museums or associations working within business culture’.
C.L.: We take part in these activities with great pleasure. This is the philosophy of the Dalmine Foundation; to pursue a specific aim, a specific project rather than something abstract. Taking on a partner depends on your definition of an object, a subject or a theme, so that you choose a partner while, at the same time, creating the conditions to reach your objective. The choice of partner, of course, is always bilateral and mutual. All the initiatives we have developed over the years have always been built on solid bases: with the Dalmine and Bergamo Municipalities, who both have welcomed us every year in our efforts to create or promote important exhibitions that would attract a wider public. So partnership is in things and projects. I had to learn this philosophy myself because my background was closer to the university and the world of public instruction where indentifying partners is the first thing to do even before your topic is completely defined. Here in the foundation, we have always worked thinking about what to do, how and with whom.
S.M.: Also because our way of working is quite informal, more oriented towards the project and how it will be carried out.
C.L.: And dedicated to excellence, which motivates you to seek out good partners.
S.M.: Yes, I would say that our aim is to stay at the top level in this field. Up to now, we have been quite satisfied with our work organizing exhibitions, conferences, publishing books and so on. The Foundation has participated actively in the initiatives organized for the centenary of Dalmine, not only showing the company’s history, but also helping it to organize wider projects. Next year will be dedicated to reflection: a few initiatives have been dropped, some programs are on hold and we will concentrate on ourselves.
C.L.: One year to strengthen our internal activities and concentrate more on the archives itself and the library, which is our primary focus.
S.M.: And to extend our facility. We have a project to double our premises, buying the North-East white building, next to the 1950s cooling tower. It’s not very old, but it has become a symbol of the company because of its dimensions. In this way, the Foundation will occupy two of the three villas of Dalmine.
G.P.: Another question concerning governance: doesn’t your organization have a scientific board?
C.L.: We have aimed foragility. We thought about it in the beginning. We think it is more important to create ad hoc working groups – and this is also valid for scientific counseling – concentrating on specific projects. Having begun work on the archives, I put together a staff that we felt had sufficient knowledge of the core business. We sought out the help of specialized people as soon as we started planning exhibitions and initiatives. We also made these choices in order to create a varied and diversified network. I see this as a positive enrichment.
S.M.: The board of directors’ task is to define the program and the projects; then, for every project it is necessary to create specific boards, a staff and whatever is needed to give it credibility. To have a single scientific board would be more complicated. Considering the initiatives we have carried out, we should have included architects, art and photography experts on the board. There is also some continuous collaboration, such as the one with Gamec with whom we have a more permanent relationship. If you ask me who our artistic advisor is in the contemporary field, I always answer Giacinto di Pietrantonio and Maria Cristina Rodeschini, Gamec’s very competent directors.
C.L.: Our organization is based on both the style of the company and the freedom to act of the director who frequently has informal meetings with his collaborators. These conditions have made up for the absence of others who might contribute to the creation of practical and scientific guidelines.
S.M.: I think Carolina has made an important point; the Foundation is autonomous, given that its function differs from that of the main company. Large companies are structured to do their job. I’ve always dealt with activities outside the core business. When you are in this position, the company, through its complicated procedures, tends to say, “You [the Foundation] have nothing to do with it”. So it’s right that the Foundation is free to act, otherwise it would spend most of its time explaining why it works differently from the company. However, apart from this formal-organizational aspect, the Foundation isn’t considered a foreign body, but an integral part of the company, including its physical space, perhaps because the ambience is so pleasant or because Carolina is a generous host. We sometimes come here to hold meetings when we do not want to be distracted. Here we can think in peace, maybe doing a little bit of brain storming; so we frequently invade the Foundation, sit around this table and this allows us to face a problem with a fresh outlook. This place makes us a little bit less technical.
G.P.: Creative thinking.
S.M.: A little more creative. We are outside the ‘sacred walls’ of the company and it helps; the main door of this room looks towards the outside; the smallest door looks towards the inside. It may be a coincidence but, this element is meaningful to us.
G.P.: The places where intellectuals meet usually have a hint of heresy, which is not always allowed when you are in a collar and tie.
S.M.: Of course, the director lays himself open to some risks in his choices and he is judged for the result of the product, the project and how he has handled it. But if it works - and I think it’s working – this style gives a lot of power to the people and encourages them to work better.
